Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Dear Jodie - O is for On Golden Pond

Dear Jodie,

Jane Fonda wanted her father to win an Oscar. She had won
two, and Henry Fonda, as great as he was, had not won a single one. She bought
the rights to the Ernest Thompson play On
Golden Pond for her father to portray the crusty, curmudgeonly Norman
Thayer Jr. She secured the brilliant Katharine Kepburn to play Ethyl.She, herself, would play their daughter
Chelsea.

I love this movie, in particular the developing friendship
between the old man Norman and the boy Billy played by Doug McKeon.So well done.Dabney Coleman rounds out the small cast. Which brings me to that
wonderful scene he had with Norman about sleeping with Chelsea in the same
room.

This whole movie is about relationships, isn't it, Jodie?
Norman's and Ethyl's, solid and eternal.Norman's and Chelsea's, fragile and wounded.Chelsea's and Ethyl's, strong yet the
occasional victim of divided loyalties.Norman's and Billy's, a dual-sided mirror to Norman's past and Billy's
future.

The most important relationship story in this movie was the
one between Jane Fonda and Henry Fonda.They had never had the best of personal relationships, but they managed
to work through a lot of it with the wisdom of Katharine Hepburn.